**DO THESE NUMBERS INCLUDE STREAMING SERVICES LIKE SlingTV, Vue and DirecTV Now?**

In the past that was a simple question to answer. The answer was “no.” Some people didn’t like it but it was simple! December was the last month that was the case though.

Starting with the January estimates the answer changed to “Yes….kind of.”

I applaud Nielsen for plowing ahead though I don’t know that I’d have gone ahead and started when I only had 6 (January estimates) or 21 (February estimates) or 37 (March estimates) households, or even the 96 (October estimates) that I could sample. By comparison the national TV panel has around 40,000 homes in it with around 100,000 participants.

You’ll have to do your own comparisons versus August! Nielsen does its annual recalibration with the September estimates, which I never posted. Instead, I’ll include the September 2017 numbers as the comparison for the October sports nets. If you want to do the September vs August comparison yourself, have at it.